Alexis in Soldier
by Cosy-Little-Crow
Summary: Alexis Rhapsodos has always lived in the shadow of her brother. When she decides she wants to join the military, she doesn't want to be associated with her older brother, Genesis. When she joins SOLDIER as a new recruit, she decides the best path is to disguise herself as a man and do her best to keep her secrets until she's made a name for herself on her own. T for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

It was an early spring morning as a military bus rolled up the road. Inside were nearly four dozen new recruits for SOLDIER. Some of them came for the money, some came to make a name for themselves. Others just to support their loved ones and represent where they came from.

The bus was a bit on the noisy side as the guys chatted and laughed amongst each other, swapping stories with one another. But there was one who did not join on the talks.

And they were sitting in the back of the bus.

The lone prospective soldier fidgeted with their uniform, straightening and tugging at the front. They checked and rechecked that their long platinum braid was tightly secured in a tight, high knot at the back of their head.

In fact, they were so distracted with making sure their hair and clothing were in order that they didn't notice the recruit with messy black hair in front of them turn in his seat and lean over the back of it toward them.

"Hey there recruit! Nervous?" Asked the black haired man with a grin on his face.

The mystery recruit practically jumped out of their skin, fist drawn back to defend themself. Luckily, they were able to take in the other person in time to stop their punch mid-way through. He had sharp Mako hued eyes that gleamed with mirth and barely-restrained energy.

Mako eyes? So he isn't a recruit after all, they thought.

"Jesus! Don't just sneak up on people like that!" Their voice was harsher than they meant, and a bit high pitched, as if newly changing.

They cleared their throat and began again, reaching out their hand in offer.

"The name's Lex. And who wouldn't be nervous?"

He searched the guy's uniform for any insignia or sign of rank. When he found none, he decided to just ask.

"But it looks like you don't have reason to worry. Your not a recruit, right?"

Before he could respond, the bus lurched to a jerky stop in front of the base. This was it. They were here.

"Zack Fair, nice to meet ya," He replied as he took the hand and gave it a good, firm shake.

"I'm only on here to make sure the others don't get too rowdy. Seph and Genesis always stick me with this duty, dunno why," he added with a shrug.

As the bus slowed to a stop, Lex and Zack turned their gaze through the window to where the higher-ups were standing on the pavement outside. Waiting for them stood a tall man in all black, long silver hair left loose. Beside him another man with bright red hair and a matching red trench coat stood holding a book.

Lex went pale. Genesis was here? What? Sephiroth, they were prepared for, expecting the man, even. And Angeal, who was nowhere in sight.

The first man Lex recognized as Sephiroth, the General. He had a piercing stare that was in stark contrast with Zack's jovial, innocent expression. And the second, Genesis, stood calm and collected, though he sported a subtle smirk on his face.

They remembered they'd been speaking to Zack and tried to reply. "Probably because you're as rowdy as the rest."

They tried to keep their tone light but it ended up coming out a bit subdued. See, Lex had a bit of a secret. Though they were dressed in the men's uniform, "he" was actually a woman. She also knew the people waiting out there. One of them, the redhead with the book, was her brother, Genesis.

My disguise is SO not good enough for this.

See, it was nearly impossible for a woman to get in without knowing some of the higher ups already, and everyone knew it. That didn't sit well with her. Alexis Rhapsodos wasn't one to ride easy on the coattails of her brother.

While she knew he wouldn't make it easy on her, everyone else wouldn't know that. They would talk. She'd always be that-girl-who-got-in-because-her-brother-is-friends-with-the-general.

So she decided she was going to do this her way. So she dyed her brilliant red hair an ashy blonde color, dyed her eyebrows, and even got delicate freckles and moles tattooed across her face, neck, and shoulders.

She bound her chest, spent months practicing and deepening her voice with vocal exercises. She trained her body hard, built muscle and sinew. She even learned how to walk and talk differently changing her gait and speech patterns. She'd always been a brash and brazen tomboy anyway, so that was actually pretty easy.

But now she was here and everything was about to blow up in her face.

Zack stood and dusted himself off, then turned to her.

"Hehe, there's my cue. See ya, Recruit!" Zack grinned as he strode to the front of the bus.

"Alright, ya mugs! Grab your stuff and as soon as those doors open, hustle your asses out and fall in! On the double!"


	2. Chapter 2

As Sephiroth went into his welcome speech, pacing slowly back and forth between the recruits, Genesis shifted his eyes over to Lex and they widened. There was no mistaking those eyes! And the way that the person stood, she practically radiated nervousness.

Lex took in the "welcome" speech, which was really just a speech full of everything that was probably going to kill them if they made it through and how small their chances were of making it in the ranks, all the time keeping one eye on Genesis. When his eyes widened, she gave a minute but purposeful shake of her head, locking eyes and hoping he would get the memo and stay quiet.

'Come on asshole, don't blow this for me' she thought.

He didn't know what she was trying, but for her sake, he kept his mouth shut and waited until Sephiroth led them into the base.

About 5 minutes later, the General was finished and got the recruits into four lines of twelve. She was practically vibrating with nervous energy by the time she was in formation, ready to go.

As they were escorted inside, Genesis made sure Sephiroth was out of earshot before yanking his sister into his arms and giving her a soft noogie. When she was suddenly pulled out of rank and behind a pillar, her first instinct was to bite the much larger man, who had her around the chest from behind, when she felt a familiar sensation in her hair.

"You actually made it!" He laughed.

She turned in his hold and shoved his chest. Hard.

"Get. Off. You oaf! What if someone sees? What if they hear? Or what if they realize our faces are nearly fucking identical, dude?" She stepped back and smoothed her hair and clothes.

"This" she said and gestured to her still-rumpled appearance, "is why I didn't tell you I was going to do it this way. I know how you are."

Her expression softened. "But thanks. Now, I gotta go get yelled at for getting lost."

She turned to leave, but only made it a couple steps before turning back. "And don't even THINK of telling anyone or trying to get me out of whatever trouble I'm in, Dude. You KNOW how important it is to me that I do this myself."

With that, she sprinted down the hallway to catch up to her group and slip back into line, hoping her absence hadn't been detected.

Thankfully, the hall was crowded with the recruits all huddled around a large message board of some sort. Slowly, the group dispersed and Lex moved up to get a good look at her barracks assignment. Her disappearance didn't seem to be noticed by Sephiroth, who had apparently left Zack in charge again. When he noticed her, Zack waved her over.

"Hey Lex, who're ya roomin' with?" He gestured with his thumb to the table with the assignment list and several stacks of keycards. The one she'd just been standing by before he called her over.

Shaking her head, she flipped through the stapled list. On the fourth page..

*ROOM 3301*

*ALEXIS LITHE*

*ZACKARY FAIR*

'Oh, good. Just what she needed, more time with this guy.' She thought. He was nice enough, but could she really keep up the disguise around someone who seemed to be close to her brother and the General?

She plastered a grin on her face and replied. "Hey, look at that! Looks like we're gonna be roomies."

She snagged the key-card matching her name from the stack on the table and headed to the room, hopeful she'd get a minute to herself.

When she entered the room, it was pretty empty. There was a set of bunk beds with a duffle resting on the bottom bunk. Beside it, a set of five-shelf lockers with key slots. On the other side of the room was the bathroom and a single bed. She threw her bag onto it as she passed, heading into the bathroom.

'Stalls. Of course.'

Inside, there were two toilet stalls, two sinks, and two shower cubicles. The main door did close, but it didn't lock. 'Looks like I'll be dressing in the shower.' She thought, pushing open a stall to relieve herself.


	3. Chapter 3

When she came back to the main room, the duffle on the bottom bunk had been replaced with a small man, maybe 18 at the oldest, shock of golden hair in haphazard spikes. He was slumped across the middle of the bed, legs still partly off the bed.

She cleared her throat and he lifted his head.

"Hi, I'm Lex. I'm rooming with you and Zack. That single bed is mine."

The blonde teen blinked at her absently for a minute before he spoke. "Hn. I'm Cloud."

He flopped back onto the bed, grunting when he misjudged the distance and hit his head on the wall behind him.

Zack strode into the room next with his own bag in hand and plopped it down near the last bed.

"Ahhhh.. home sweet home!" He sighed in content as he climbed onto the top bunk and flopped back onto the mattress after he kicked off his boots.

"Right now, the recruits can relax for a while. You get a week to get used to the place. After that, though, that's when you guys get down and dirty. Training starts at 0500 hours. But feel free to look around in the meantime. Mess hall's on the first floor. Usually Lazard and Angeal and Seph are already down there for lunch with the other boys."

Lex plopped down on her own bed and began to undo the tightly laced combat boots she wore and exchange them for the pair of black sneakers they were allowed to wear as part of the relaxed uniform they were permitted to wear at rest times and during some types of PT.

She figured that the bed kid would be fine, and Zack seemed oblivious enough. This might be okay. And they had a week to get things settled. Pulling her uniform shirt over her head and immediately folding it neatly, she sat in her undershirt, trying to find one of the dark gray long-sleeved uniform shirts.

Once she was dressed, she started taking her hair down in order to brush and rebraid it. It was probably safe enough to leave down as long as she kept it braided.

"When training starts, I call dibs on one of the showers first every morning. I have a lot of hair. A LOT." She punctuated her words by shaking out her hair, realizing a bit too late that this might come off as a sort of "girly" gesture.

"First floor's food? How's the chow line this time of day?" She hoped the question would distract them from her prior behavior. Her hair was already brushed out by then and she began deftly braiding it over her shoulder.

"Shouldn't be too bad right now. Lunch is just starting up, but people don't start flooding in until about 15 after. And what's with the long hair, Lex? Got a thing for long hair, eh?" Zack replied as he quirked an eyebrow up at her. "But hey, whatever fits your style, man. I'm not judging." It sounded a bit like he was judging, but Lex tried to ignore it when he laid back down and began to mess with something on his phone.

"If you're worried about Lazard, don't be. He's a big softie actually and Angeal is not much of a hard ass as he looks to be. He's a good guy once you get to know him." He spoke, eyes still on the phone in his hands.

"Good, because I'm starving! All I brought with me to eat were apples, and those aren't the most filling to take on the three day journey to make it here." She finished getting ready and stood as she talked. "Wanna come with, either of you?"

The little guy on the bottom bunk grunted again and covered his head with a pillow, so she turned her attention to Zack. He was looking at her hair again.

She was hopeful that some bs dramatic line Genesis had told her once would get him off her back easily enough.

"Did you know, Greek soldiers considered long hair a sign of aristocracy and power? They would comb it openly in order to establish their status as wealthy, powerful or a skilled warrior."

Lex tried to remember who Lazard even was. 'The cute guy with the glasses that her brother brought back to their house for Christmas a few years ago?' She seriously doubted he could intimidate anyone.

"Lazard will be fine, and Angeal's not really that scary looking." She said with a shrug.

She wished she could say that the man was even less scary after catching him making out with her brother like six years ago and making him cry because she told him he was gross. To be fair, it wasn't because he was kissing a guy. It was because she couldn't fathom why anyone would kiss her brother.

"You're into history, eh? Then you'll love Seph's class if you get into it. He likes history and that guy can keep you enraptured for hours if you like the subject," Zack smiled.

"Why don't ya go down and get ya some grub? I'm sure after that ride, you gotta be starving right about now. Miss Rosemary cooks up some mean meals for the guys and her pasta is top notch. She's been working in that kitchen ever since she was in her 40's. She's in her 60's now and still acts like a grandmother for all of us guys, hehe."

Without thinking, Lex blurted out her automatic first answer and watched in horror as her mouth kept moving while her brain screamed in horror.

"Actually, my brother is. Well, he's into historical fiction and theater. But I...shit, gotta go."

She practically sprinted to the elevators, and was so distracted that she ran right into a heavily muscled back hard enough to knock herself onto the ground, causing two other people in the hall to trip over her.

"Gaah! Ow...! Ok, that hurt..!" Genesis moaned.

The owner of the muscular back turned around. It was Sephiroth, who was just on his way to the mess hall. He stood, watching Genesis crawl off the poor guy he landed on, a silver eyebrow raised in amusement, while the right corner of his lips curled into a subtle smirk.

"Careful now. Wouldn't want you getting hurt on your first day." Sephiroth spoke with a bit of a chuckle.

'Of course it's Sephiroth! Who else would be better to embarrass myself in front of on my first day. And in front of Genesis. I'm never living this down.'

She flushed crimson from neck to ears and stood to resume her trek to the mess hall, but she caught the bottom of her brother's trench coat under her heel and when he stood, she fell into the General for a second time.

'Okay, I give up. The only solution I have now is to lie here and die of embarrassment.'

Sephiroth caught her and set her upright on her feet. "Careful there," he said, still sounding amused by the whole scenario.

As Genesis got to his feet, he began to snigger quietly at his sister's predicament. He was definitely NOT letting her live this down until the day he died.

"Yeah, careful there, rookie. Don't want to hurt yourself now," he said, trying in vain to hide his laughter.

"Kill me now." She couldn't help saying under her breath before she remembered her manners and stood at attention, meeting his eyes as she spoke.

"I apologize General Sephiroth. Thank you." 'Am I supposed to bow? Salute? Can I go?' She stood with her face burning, but her expression was that of steel, solid and unyielding.

Embarrassing or not, she wasn't going to show weakness around Sephiroth. Especially not in front of her brother, who she had chosen to completely ignore for the moment. This was partly his fault, after all. Running around in non-regulation clothing, falling over recruits.

"It's quite alright, recruit. You're free to go. Just watch yourself. Go and get yourself some lunch." Sephiroth nodded before heading down the stairs towards said area.

Once the silver haired General was out of earshot, Genesis finally lost it and busted out laughing, leaning against the wall while clutching his stomach. "You should've seen your face!" he guffawed.

She turned to her brother and scowled, punching him hard in the bicep.

"I swear on every God that exists, I will end you if you tell one person, Genesis. One! I'm serious. You know I can kick your ass now, right?" She glared at him and straightened her uniform.

"Ow! Haha, hey! I'm just joking, Lex! Goddesses above.." He chuckled before following her to the mess hall, still rubbing his bicep where she smacked him.

Her hair tie had gone missing, she was sure. She could feel the braid begin to loosen and shoved it roughly down the back of her shirt, before taking the steps two at a time. She wanted to find a spot before things got crowded.


End file.
